we had a significant deficit. but the long term looked possible if we could solve the sshort-term problems. that was easier. in 1990, the parties were competitive, but they were not polarized. in those days, the bad guys were the opposition. today, they are the enemy. there is a world of difference between those two words. yes, we had some distrust. also, we had the ability to work with each other and believe each other and it made life easier at that time. there were other divisions in the congress. the party polarization today tends to make it republicans versus democrats all the way. there were other sub factions in those days. the budgeteers verses the appropriators, etc., that cut across some of those party lines. the most important difference, in my judgment, is that there was less outside pressure upon the negotiators from the radio and tv extremists, lobbyists, core constituencies, users of social media, etc. mostl they did not get 500 e-mails every minute in their office. they did not have people featurin